Merchandise : " A Corpse Wired For Sound"

O.K had this one sitting around with me all weekend while I was at Dragon-Con. I was able to catch a few songs on the fly here and there, but this morning was the first day I could really sit down and give it a focused listen and it has been fighting with the new Wovenhand, that I got on the same same for air time. I guess the fact the band is on classic goth label 4AD , has finally settled in on them, so  it should not come as a surprise that the trappings of shoe gaze are more prominent in the guitar department on this album. It took a couple listens for me to fully appreciate the opening track.Perspective is a funny thing.  If I went into the album not knowing it was Carson Cox and co, I would have latched onto the darker tones driving the songs. But I went into this expecting some more focused on the vocals. The guitar tones are pretty incredible.  There is a weird Cocteau Twins like quality to " Crystal Cage" . I am more eager to latch onto the more new wave elements of "Right Back to the Start"  that reminds me of earlier Depeche Mode. The vocal melodies on this song are fucking sublime and the mood of every note sung is perfect.

The pulse to "End of the Week" is murkier and it's up to the vocals to cut through the swirl of effected guitar to deliver the message. Carson does succeed even with the almost My Blood Valentine wall of effects dripping around his melody. "Lonesome Sound" is more rock n roll. There are some pretty weird fuzzy guitar tones happening on this one. It's oddly upbeat and reminds me a little more of something from "After the End". There is a more post-punk tension to the chilly groove of "Shadow of the Truth".  "Silence" finds them back in the old Depeche Mode zip code, where it's not dark enough to be dark wave, but darker than your average pop song. They take a turn into a more ballad like direction on "I Will Not Sleep Here". A little more stripped down production wise, it allows you to hear a wider range of colors in Carson's voice. It is the most accessible song on the album, but I don't hear it tearing up "alternative radio" so it's far from a sell out.

The album closes with "My Dream is Yours". It's dreamy, but not stagnantly so. Though it's no where near being the best song on the album. The weird synths give it movement and the vocals take a back seat to the experimental ambiance. The programmed drums lock into the song by the end to create more of a rock build up and fight the noisy oddness seeking to drown the song. Overall this album is great and Carson once again throws you a sonic curve ball and refuses to replicate past work and forge ahead creatively, I'll round it up to a 10.